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Controlling Pop-Ups and Spyware

If you are getting pop-ups, especially at random when you are not surfing the web, then you are one of about 500 million people infected with spyware. Spyware is software that covertly gathers information about you through your internet connection without your knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even your passwords and credit card numbers. These evil programs get on your computer by being "bundled" with free things like screen savers, password keeping utilities, music swapping programs, clip-art, and others. Some of these programs will stop working when you remove their advertising spyware, and some must be removed themselves before you can remove their spyware.

The Solution:

1. The first thing to do is to go to Start - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs and one-at-a-time highlight & remove anything that says: Web Search, Rebates, Browser enhancement, Ebates, Shopper, GAIN, New.net, Moe Money Maker, or IE Enhancement. This is only a partial list because it grows more every day, but this will give you a good start, and the remaining steps below should clean up the rest.

2. Reboot. If it asks you to reboot after each one, you don't have to - you can wait till the end and do it once.

3. Then, you need to go get a free spyware remover. If your computer has Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP, go to Microsoft.com, download the "Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta" right from their homepage, install it, click File - Update, then run a "FULL" search. Make sure to set to "Remove" or "Quarantine" anything it finds unless you recognize it. It will remove nearly all of the programs causing the pop-ups. The Microsoft one is free, excellent, and is always running to stop more programs from getting in.

If you have Windows 98 or Windows ME, please upgrade :).

There are two other decent programs that you can use: Spyware Doctor and Ad-Aware. The free download versions are only cleaners - you must pay for them if you want the monitoring protection.

Link to Ad-Aware:

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-4-1

Link to Spyware Doctor:

http://www.download.com/Spyware-Doctor/3000-8022_4-10377263.html

Install one or both, update them first, then run a full scan. Select and remove anything the program finds.

4. The last thing to do is to go to Internet Explorer, then Tools - Options. Go to the Security tab and select Default level and OK. This should keep most things from getting in. Your best bet would be to download Mozilla Firefox, which is another web browser which has less security problems.

The above bit of effort is really worth it in terms of a faster, less “crashy”, more secure computer. Simply turning on a pop-up blocker is only masking the symptom, not curing it.

Editor’s Note: This tip was contributed by Brian Wallace, Computer, Networking & Security Consultant, and we thank him! You can reach Brian at his company Effective Consulting, LLC: EffCon@snappydsl.net

And, if you have any further tips on removing spyware, send them in!

Tips and Tricks Links

ServerFiles.com is a Server software directory for Network administrators & IT professionals. They list networking & server software for both Windows-based systems including Windows 2003, Windows 2000 & NT and also Linux-based systems. ServerFiles.com is significantly different from other download/software sites in that it does not focus on single user software.

Find it at: http://www.serverfiles.com/

In the above and other articles, we’ve recommended Mozilla Firefox as a browser. If you’re already using it, here’s a great tips and tricks site for that browser:

http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips

If you’re a Linux user, you will find the Linux-Tip site extremely helpful.

Find it at: http://www.linux-tip.net/cms/

Keeping Up with Installed Applications

Obviously spyware is the type of application you do not want on any computer in your network. So if you’re running a network, how do you keep track of all the installed applications out there?

You probably find yourself having to do a lot of running around to keep up your software inventory – if you even have time to do that. There’s also monitoring computers, installing updates and patches and updating or installing new software. On top of software inventory, you also probably have a bit of a time keeping track of all your hardware.

There are numerous products on the market to assist you in performing these functions, but very few perform them all – simply, affordably, and from one location.

Micro2000’s RemoteScope™ Remote Desktop Management Software allows you to:

- Monitor remote desktops

- Keep an up-to-date inventory of all your software and hardware

- Track your software licensing, to keep it current, accurate and legal

- Remotely install patches, updates, and even full applications right from your desktop

And much more!

Find out how RemoteScope’s simple, inexpensive remote desktop management can ease your remote management headaches:

http://www.micro2000.co.uk/products/remotescope/remotescope_steps.html